SCENE IX.-Another Part of the Field.
Enter HECTOR.

Hect. Most putrified core, so fair without, Thy goodly armour thus hath cost thy life. Now is my day's work done; I'll take good breath: Rest sword; thou hast thy fill of blood and death! [Puts off his Helmet, and hangs his Shield behind him.

Enter ACHILLES and MYRMIDONS.

Achil. Look, Hector, now the sun begins to set; How ugly night comes breathing at his heels: Even with the vail and dark'ning of the sun, To close the day up, Hector's life is done.

seek.

Hect. I am unarm'd, forego this 'vantage*, Greek. Achil. Strike, fellows, strike; this is the man I [Hector falls. So,'Ilion, fall thou next! Now, Troy, sink down; Here lies thy heart, thy sinews, and thy bone. On, Myrmidons; and cry you all amain, Achilles hath the mighty Hector slain.

[A Retreat sounded. Hark! a retreat upon our Grecian part.

Myr. The Trojan trumpets sound thellike, my lord. Achil. The dragon wing of night o'erspreads the earth,

And, stickler-like +, the armies separates.

My half-supp'd sword, that frankly would have

fed,

Pleased with this dainty bit, thus goes to bed.

[Sheaths his Sword.

Come, tie his body to my horse's tail;
Along the field I will the Trojan trail.

SCENE X.-The same.

[Exeunt.

Enter AGAMEMNON, AJAX, MENELAUS, NESTOR, DIOMEDES, and others, marching.—Shouts within., Agam. Hark! hark! What shout is that?

Nest. Peace, drums.

[Within.] Achilles!

Achilles! Hector's slain! Achilles!

Dio. The bruit ý is,-Hector's slain, and by Achilles.

• Take not this advantage

+ An arbitrator at athletic games.

Fattening.

VOL. IV

Aaa

Rumour.

Ajax. If it be so, yet bragless let it be; Great Hector was as good a man as he.

Agam. March patiently along :-Let one be sent To pray Achilles see us at our tent.

If in his death, the gods have us befriended, Great Troy is ours, and our sharp wars are ended. [Exeunt marching.

SCENE XI.-Another Part of the Field.

Enter ENEAS, and TROJANS.

Ene. Stand, ho! yet are we masters of the field; Never go home; here starve we out the night. Enter TROILUS.

Tro. Hector is slain.

All. Hector?-The gods forbid !

Tro. He's dead; and at the murderer's horse's tail,

In beastly sort, dragg'd through the shameful

field.

Frown on, you heavens, effect your rage with speed!
Sit, gods, upon your thrones, and smile at Troy!
I say, at once let your brief plagues be mercy,
And finger not our sure destructions on!

Ene. My lord, you do discomfort all the host.
Tro. You understand me not, that tell me so:
I do not speak of flight, of fear, of death;
But dare all imminence, that gods and men
Address their dangers in. Hector is gone!
Who shall tell Príam.so, or Hecuba?

Let him, that will a screech-owl aye be call'd,
Go into Troy, and say there-Hector's dead:
There is a word will Priam turn to stone;
Make wells and Niobes of the maids and wives,
Cold statues of the youth; and, in a word,
Scare Troy out of itself. But, march away;
Hector is dead, there is no more to say.
Stay yet;-You vile abominable tents,
Thus proudly pight + upon our Phrygian plains,
Let Titan rise as early as he dare,

I'll through and through you!-And thou, greatsized coward!

No space of earth shall sunder our two hates;
I'll haunt thee like a wicked conscience still,
That mouldeth goblins swift as frenzy thoughts.-
+Pitched, fixed.

• Ever.

Strike a free march to Troy! With comfort go: Hope of revenge shall hide our inward woe.

[Exeunt Eneas, and Trojans.

As TROILUS is going out, enter, from the other side, PANDARUS.

Pan. But hear you, hear you!

Tro. Hence, broker lackey! ignomy and shame Pursue thy life, and live aye with thy name.

Exit Troilus.

Pan. A goodly med'cine for my aching bones! -O world! world! world! thus is the poor agent despised! O traitors and bawds, how earnestly are you set a' work, and how ill requited! Why should our endeavour be so loved, and the performance so loathed? What verse for it? What instance for it ?-Let me see:

Full merrily the humble-bee doth sing, Till he hath lost his honey, and his sting: And being once subdued in armed tail, Sweet honey and sweet notes together fail.Good traders in the flesh, set this in your painted cloths.

As many as be here of pander's hall,

Your eyes, half out, weep out at Pandar's fall:
Or, if you cannot weep, yet give some groans,
Though not for me, yet for your aching bones.
Brethren, and sisters, of the hold-door trade,
Some two months hence my will shall here be made:
It should be now, but that my fear is this,
Some galled goose of Winchester would hiss;
Till then, I'll sweat, and seek about for eases;
And, at that time, bequeath you my diseases.

[Exit.

• Canvas hangings for rooms, painted with em blems and mottoes.

TROILUS AND CRESSIDA. This play is more correctly written than most of Shakspeare's composi tions, but it is not one of those in which either the extent of his views or elevation of his fancy is fully displayed. As the story abounded with materials, he has exerted little invention; but he has diversified his characters with great variety. His vicious characters disgust, but cannot corrupt, for both Cressida and Pandarus are detested and contemmed. The comic characters seem to have been the favourites of the writer: they are of superficial kind, and exhibit more of manners, than nature; but they are copiously filled, and powerfully impressed. Shakspeare has in his story followed, for the greater part, the old book of Caxton, which was then very popular; but the character of Thersites, of which it makes no mention, is a proof that this play was written after Chapman had published his version of Homer. JOHNSON.

CORIOLANUS.